Peer-Reviewed Study

Effects on Children's Cognitive Development of Chronic Exposure to Screens

Jul 2012 🇫🇷 Archives de Pédiatrie (Elsevier Masson) PEER-REVIEWED PAYWALLED — LINKED, NOT HOSTED

This 2012 journal article, co-written by pediatrician B. Harlé and INSERM neuroscience research director Michel Desmurget, is Desmurget's own peer-reviewed publication most directly on this library's subject (his other journal output is almost entirely on unrelated motor-control neuroscience). Published in the French pediatrics journal Archives de Pédiatrie, it reviews existing studies on rising screen time from televisions, video games, smartphones, and computers, concluding that the literature consistently links chronic heavy exposure with weaker academic achievement, slower language development, reduced attention, poorer sleep, and higher aggression in children and teens. The authors frame under-recognition of the issue among clinicians as a gap and call it a public-health concern that primary-care physicians should address by counseling families on prevention. TechKids includes it as the one peer-reviewed article Desmurget has personally co-authored on screens and child development, distinct from his popular books.

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CITATION

Harlé B, Desmurget M. Effet de l'exposition chronique aux écrans sur le développement cognitif de l'enfant [Effects on children's cognitive development of chronic exposure to screens]. Arch Pediatr. 2012 Jul;19(7):772-6. doi:10.1016/j.arcped.2012.04.003. PMID: 22609414.

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